Book Spotlight: The Remains by Vincent Zandri

Due to the lovely snow that seems to have brought the whole of the UK to a standstill this past week, The Remains still hasn't arrived in the post so I couldn't review it for today's review spot, so instead I'm going to post a spotlight for this fantastic sounding book!
Thirty years ago, teenager Rebecca Underhill and her twin sister Molly were abducted by a man who lived in a house in the woods behind their upstate New York farm. They were held inside that house for three horrifying hours, until making their daring escape. Vowing to keep their terrifying experience a secret in order to protect their mother and father, the girls tried to put the past behind them. And when their attacker was hunted down by police and sent to prison, they believed he was as good as dead. Now, it's 30 years later, and with Molly having passed away from cancer, Rebecca, a painter and art teacher, is left alone to bear the burden of a secret that has only gotten heavier and more painful with each passing year. But when Rebecca begins receiving some strange anonymous text messages, she begins to realize that the monster who attacked her all those years ago is not dead after all. He's back, and this time, he wants to do more than just haunt her. He wants her dead.

I do love a good thriller and this one sounds like it's going to be great! So be sure to keep your eyes peeled and come back to check out my review which should be up soon! You can read an excerpt, and watch the book trailer at the website.

November Summary

Books completed ~ 6
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 5/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix 4/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince 5/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows 5/5 - review
P.C. Cast - The Fledgling Handbook 3/5
Erica Spindler - Blood Vines 4/5

Books bought ~ 6
P.C. Cast - The Fledgling Handbook
Rachel Caine - Ghost Town
Erica Spindler - Blood Vines
Claudia Gray - Hourglass
Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
Dean Koontz - Breathless

Other books incoming ~ 4
Daniel Waters - Generation Dead (book ring)
Mitchell James Kaplan - By Fire, By Water (review)
Immaculee Ilibagiza - Left To Tell (swapped)
Susan Hill - The Small Hand (book ring)

Other posts ~
# Teaser Tuesdays - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Overall ~
I got so busy at the end of November trying to finish stitching my christmas decorations, that the great start to the month came to a complete stand still, which is disappointing. My favourite reads were the Harry Potter books, it was lovely to re-read them. My least favourite was The Fledgling Handbook, although it wasn't bad, I just felt a bit ripped off paying so much for a book that had barely anything in it! I'm not sure how much I'm going to manage to read in December, but I'm hoping to atleast read 5 or so, but I guess it depends how the festive season will go!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (29)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows 5/5
P.C. Cast - The Fledgling Handbook 3/5

At the moment I'm reading:

Erica Spindler - Blood Vines

In the next week I hope to read:

Maxim Jakubowski - Following The Detectives: Real Locations In Crime Fiction

In My Mailbox (24)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I bought 3 books:

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P.C. Cast - The Fledgling Handbook

Merry meet, fledgling. I trust this guide will serve you well...Every vampyre fledgling who arrives at the House of Night receives a copy of The Fledgling Handbook 101, and now, fans can have one, too, with this gorgeous must-have edition. Inside you'll find original stories, the complete vampyre history, inside info into rituals, vamp biology, and the Change, and much more.

~~~~~

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Rachel Caine - Ghost Town

The fragile peace between humans and vampires in Morganville is in trouble, and when Claire takes drastic action, she's put under serious pressure to re-establish the barriers that keep the town residents inside, and wipe the memories of those who leave. But working with her half-crazy vampire boss Myrnin means that things don't always turn out as planned ... and as the people of Morganville begin acting strangely, Claire and her friends must solve the mystery and try to put things right. But one by one, her allies are turning on her ... even the ones she trusts most.

~~~~~

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Erica Spindler - Blood Vines

Alex Owens knows very little about her childhood or who she really is - her only family an absent, emotionally fragile mother. Alex has always felt something was missing and has spent most of her life searching for what that could be. When an infant's remains are unearthed, Alex realises she has a connection to the case. Suddenly long-lost memories start flooding in, leading her back to a small town in California and to dark and terrifying nightmares that haunt her every waking moment. Greeted with silence and suspicion, Alex is determined to get to the heart of a secret no one wants to see uncovered. As violent deaths and a series of pagan rituals terrify the tightly-knit community, Alex is forced to confront the terrible truth about a single night that changed her family's lives for ever...

~~~~~

I also swapped a book, and received:

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Immaculee Ilibagiza - Left To Tell

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.

Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.


~~~~~

And I received a book for review as well:

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Mitchell James Kaplan - By Fire, By Water

Luis de Santángel, chancellor to the court and longtime friend of the lusty King Ferdinand, has had enough of the Spanish Inquisition. As the power of Inquisitor GeneralTomás deTorquemada grows, so does the brutality of the Spanish church and the suspicion and paranoia it inspires. When a dear friend’s demise brings the violence close to home, Santángel is enraged and takes retribution into his own hands. But he is from a family of conversos, and his Jewish heritage makes him an easy target. As Santángel witnesses the horrific persecution of his loved ones, he begins slowly to reconnect with the Jewish faith his family left behind. Feeding his curiosity about his past is his growing love for Judith Migdal, a clever and beautiful Jewish woman navigating the mounting tensions in Granada. While he struggles to decide what his reputation is worth and what he can sacrifice, one man offers him a chance he thought he’d lost…the chance to hope for a better world. Christopher Columbus has plans to discover a route to paradise, and only Luis de Santángel can help him.

Teaser Tuesdays (24)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:
The darkness seemed to be rippling, the air itself quivering. Then, one by one, figures began to pop into sight as their Disillusionment Charms lifted. ~ p.43, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (28)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire 5/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix 4/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince 5/5 - review

At the moment I'm reading:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

In the next week I hope to read:

Erica Spindler - Blood Vines
P.C. Cast - The Fledgling Handbook

October Summary

Books completed ~ 10
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone 4/5 - review
Christopher Stookey - Terminal Care 4/5 - review
Rosamund Lupton - Sister 5/5
Jeremy De Quidt - The Toymaker 2.5/5
Meg Cabot - Love You To Death 4/5
Meg Cabot - High Stakes 4/5
Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four 4/5
Jo Nesbo - The Snowman 4.5/5
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 4/5 - review
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban 4.5/5 - review

Books bought ~ 3
Rosamund Lupton - Sister
Jo Nesbo - The Snowman
Jill Mansell - Solo

Books won or for review ~ 1
Maxim Jakubowski - Following The Detectives: Real Locations In Crime Fiction

Other posts ~
# Character Inspired Outfits

Overall ~
I feel like my reading has starting to pick up again thanks to the read-a-thon I participated in during October, and I'm now back to reading pretty much every day. I love winter for this very reason, because all I want to do is snuggle up in my blanket with a hot chocolate and read! My favourite read this month was hands down Sister but I have enjoyed re-reading Harry Potter too. My least favourite was The Toymaker, it's not that the story was bad, just so different to what I thought the book was about, that I just didn't enjoy it very much. In the next month I'm hoping to finish my Harry Potter re-read and also to read some thrillers. I found I've really been in that kind of mood lately, so think I will use the opportunity to maybe clear some from my shelf that have been there forever :)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (27)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

Jo Nesbo - The Snowman 4.5/5

At the moment I'm reading:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets

In the next week I hope to read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Terminal Care by Christopher Stookey


No. of pages: 333
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis: Phil Pescoe, the 37-year-old emergency physician at Deaconess Hospital in San Francisco, becomes alarmed by a dramatic increase in the number of deaths on the East Annex (the Alzheimer's Ward). The deaths coincide with the initiation of a new drug study on the annex where a team of neurologists have been administering "NAF"—an experimental and highly promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease—to half of the patients on the ward. Mysteriously, the hospital pushes forward with the study even though six patients have died since the start of the trial. Pescoe teams up with Clara Wong—a brilliant internist with a troubled past—to investigate the situation. Their inquiries lead them unwittingly into the cutthroat world of big-business pharmaceuticals, where they are threatened to be swept up and lost before they have the opportunity to discover the truth behind the elaborate cover-up.With the death count mounting, Pescoe and Wong race against time to save the patients on the ward and to stop the drug manufacturer from unleashing a dangerous new drug on the general populace.

Review: Phil Pescoe, an emergency doctor at Deconess Hospital is called in for a code blue, a patient is dying and it's up to Phil to try and save them. The odd thing is though, that the code blue is for the Alzheimer's unit, where the patients are never resuscitated. Phil finds out that they're doing a drug study on the Alzheimer patients, but he seems to be the only person alarmed by the dramatic increase in deaths. That is until he meets Clara Wong, who is also incredibly suspicious, so together they are determined to find out what is really happening in the East Annex.

I love medical thrillers, especially ones such as this, where you get a bit of romance mixed with a gripping storyline. I really liked the characters of Phil and Clara, and thought they were well developed and interesting. The medical trials storyline was something new to me, and it seemed really well researched, with a lot of detail, but with it all explained so a non-medical person could understand easily. That's what I love so much about medical books, as well as a great story, I also enjoy learning about the medical side of things which has always interested me. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Tess Gerritsen's earlier works, it has a very similar feel to it, and is just as great a read. Very hard to believe this is a debut novel! Will definitely be looking out for more by this author in the future.

I was given this book as part of a book tour by Pump Up Your Books in return for my honest opinion.

Halloween Read-A-Thon Summary


I had great fun participating in the Halloween Read-A-Thon over the weekend and I'm even happier that I managed to reach my goal of 4 books considering how much I've been struggling to read lately. All in all I finished:

Jeremy De Quidt - The Toymaker
Meg Cabot - Love You To Death
Meg Cabot - High Stakes
Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four

And I also read a 1/4 of The Snowman by Jo Nesbo, so it was great!

So I have 7 book reviews coming your way in the next few days, so be sure to come back and check them out! :)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (26)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

Christopher Stookey - Terminal Care 4/5
Rosamund Lupton - Sister 5/5
Jeremy De Quidt - The Toymaker 2.5/5
Meg Cabot - Love You To Death 4/5
Meg Cabot - High Stakes 4/5
Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four 4/5

At the moment I'm reading:

Jo Nesbo - The Snowman

In the next week I hope to read:

Dean Koontz - Relentless
Karen Rose - Don't Tell

Halloween Read-A-Thon Day 3


Managed to finish both Meg Cabot books yesterday, so I'm really pleased with that! I'm now starting my fourth book - I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore - so it's looking very likely that I'll hit my 4 book goal which I'm really pleased about :)

So my goals for today are to finish I Am Number Four, and possibly start something else, but I'm not sure if I will or what that will be yet, I shall see how I feel after book 4!

How is everyone else doing?

In My Mailbox (23)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I bought just 1 book:

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Jill Mansell - Solo

When Tessa Duvall, a struggling artist, reluctantly agreed to accompany her best friend Holly to a party at the elegant Charrington Grange Hotel, she had every intention of sneaking off early. For parties full of strangers bored the knickers off Tessa and this one proved to be no exception - until she encountered Ross Monahan, whose wicked reputation was as high profile as the hotel he owned and ran with such panache. But whilst Holly set about ensnaring his reluctant brother Max, Tessa simply accepted Ross for what he was, a sensational one-night stand...until she realised, weeks later, that one-night stands can have far-reaching consequences...

Halloween Read-A-Thon Day 2


Well yesterday I didn't do quite as well as I had wanted due to the fact The Toymaker wasn't as gripping as I had hoped. However I did move on to a great second book in Meg Cabot's Love You To Death, and I managed to get half of that read before I went to bed.

Today's goals are to finish Love You To Death, and start (and hopefully finish) the second in that series which is High Stakes. If I managed to get through both of them, I think I'm going to start either Shadowland or Percy Jackson And The Lightening Thief.

How is everyone else doing? :)

Halloween Read-A-Thon Begins!


I've been trying to decide all week which book to start with, and have finally decided to read The Toymaker by Jeremy De Quidt first. Not sure what will be up next, but I'm excited to get going with some good books! :)

If you're interested in participating, you can still sign up here. There are some great prizes to be won for taking part!


Mini Challenge - Spookiest Read
Well I'm not one to generally get creeped out by books, but when I was around 14 I read a book called The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is about what would happen if the Ebola virus started to spread throughout the population. Would be scary stuff if it ever happened!

Halloween Read-A-Thon


Anyone who follows my blog regularly will know that lately I've been in a big reading slump, which has not been fun at all. So I have been looking around for a read-a-thon that hopefully will inspire me to get going again and I'm pretty sure I've found it in the Halloween Read-A-Thon which is happening this coming weekend!

For this readathon: read Halloween themed stuff. Not necessarily with the day of Halloween, or even the month. None of that (unless you want to). What I am thinking is examples like this: vampires, ghosts, witches, werewolves, shifters, immortals, urban legends, zombies, anything horror or paranormal related.

Sounds fun, right? I'm also going to be using it as an excuse to hopefully read some books that have been on my bookshelves for quite a while. Here's a list of books that I think fit in with the theme and from which I'll be picking my reads:

Rachel Vincent - Shifters series
L.J. Smith - Nightworld series
Rick Riordan - The Lightening Thief
Pittacus Lore - I Am Number Four
Jeremy De Quidt - The Toymaker
Darren Shan - The Vampire's Assistant
Derek Landy - Skullduggery Pleasant series
Claudia Gray - Evernight
Meg Cabot - Love You To Death & High Stakes
Alyson Noel - Shadowland
Jessica Verday - The Hollow
Stephenie Meyer - The Host
Various Authors - Buffy The Vampire Omnibus 1 & 2
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Beautiful Creatures
John Connelly - The Book Of Lost Things
John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let The Right One In

I guess I could also include my re-read of the Harry Potter series too, but I'm not sure yet what I'll feel like reading, so I'll be choosing as I go along! I'm really hoping to finish 4 books, so that will be my aim for the weekend.

I'm really looking forward to this beginning, and hope some of you will also join in too :)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (25)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone 4/5 - review (re-read)

At the moment I'm reading:

Christopher Stookey - Terminal Care

In the next week I hope to read:

Rosamund Lupton - Sister
Karen Rose - Don't Tell

In My Mailbox (22)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I bought 2 books:

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Jo Nesbo - The Snowman

The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother’s pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received some months earlier. As Harry and his team delve into unsolved case files, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears Harry’s suspicions are confirmed: he is a pawn in a deadly game. For the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity.

~~~~~

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Rosamund Lupton - Sister

Nothing can break the bond between sisters...

When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she boards the first flight home to London. But as she learns about the circumstances surrounding her sister's disappearance, she is stunned to discover how little she actually knows of her sister's life - and unprepared for the terrifying truths she must now face.

The police, Beatrice's fiance and even their mother accept they have lost Tess but Beatrice refuses to give up on her. So she embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the truth, no matter the cost.

Character Inspired Outfits

I got this idea from Jillian over at Random Ramblings, after she posted her version of some character inspired outfits. I thought it seemed like a fun idea, so headed over to Polyvore to have a go myself and this is what I came up with. This is merely my interpretation to how I imagine certain characters might dress and the accessories they might have.

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series)
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Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter series)
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Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games series)
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Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampires series)
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Bella Swan (Twilight Saga)
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Clare Abshire (The Time Traveler's Wife)
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Eve Rosser (Morganville Vampires series) - You can find the item links here.
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Susie Salmon (The Lovely Bones)
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Grace Brisbane (Wolves Of Mercy Falls trilogy)
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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (24)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

James Dashner - The Maze Runner

At the moment I'm reading:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone

In the next week I hope to read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series (re-read)
Christopher Stookey - Terminal Care

September Summary

Books completed ~ 7
Alex Scarrow - TimeRiders: Day Of The Predator 4/5 - review
Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer et al - Prom Nights From Hell 2.5/5 - review
John Vornholt - Coyote Moon 3/5 - review
Cormac McCarthy - The Road 4.5/5 - review
Jay Asher - Thirteen Reasons Why 4.5/5 - review
Tess Gerritsen - Presumed Guilty 4/5 - review
James Dashner - The Maze Runner 4/5

Books bought ~ 11
Rachel Vincent - Rogue
Rachel Vincent - Prey
Rachel Vincent - Shift
Dean Koontz - Relentless
Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer et al - Prom Nights From Hell
Claudia Gray - Evernight
John Vornholt/Arthur Byron Cover/Alice Henderson - Buffy The Vampire Slayer omnibus 1
Michael Connelly - Nine Dragons
John Vornholt/Nancy Golden/Diana G. Gallagher - Buffy The Vampire Slayer omnibus 2
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Helen Kennerley - Overcoming Childhood Trauma

Books won or for review ~ 3
Christopher Stookey - Terminal Care - from Pump Up Your Book
Charlaine Harris - Dead And Gone (signed) - from The Book Club Forum
James Dashner - The Maze Runners - from I Was A Teenage Book Geek

Other posts ~
# Teaser Tuesdays - Prom Nights From Hell / Coyote Moon / Thirteen Reasons Why / The Maze Runner
# Top Ten Picks - Book Covers

Overall ~
I had another terrible month, I'm really just not reading much at all at the moment, which sucks, but I'm really hoping next month is much better. My favourite read was The Road, it was as fantastic as I was expecting. My least favourite was Prom Nights From Hell, it just wasn't what I was expecting at all! In the next month I'm going to enjoy my re-read of the Harry Potter series, and I also have my first book tour coming up next month which I'm very excited about! :)

Teaser Tuesdays (23)


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teaser:
Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of colour. He couldn't think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation. ~ p.2, The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (23)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

Jay Asher - Thirteen Reasons Why 4.5/5 - review (re-read)
Tess Gerritsen - Presumed Guilty 4/5 - review
Nikki Logan - Their Newborn Gift 3/5

At the moment I'm reading:

James Dashner - The Maze Runner

In the next week I hope to read:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter series (re-read)

In My Mailbox (21)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I didn't buy anything, but I did receive a book I won from I Was A Teenage Book Geek:

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James Dashner - The Maze Runner

When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything - even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrols its corridors, to find out.

Presumed Guilty by Tess Gerritsen


No. of pages: 347
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis: Miranda's ex-lover is found murdered. She had a motive and the opportunity. After being arrested for the crime, Miranda is shocked to learn she's been released on bail - bail posted by someone determined to remain anonymous. Is someone trying to help Miranda? Or is someone trying to manipulate Miranda and draw her into the dark and secret world of a murdered man, where everybody's presumed guilty?

Review: When Miranda comes home to find her ex-lover dead in her bed, stabbed with her knife, she knows there's no way anyone will believe it wasn't her. But when someone posts her bail and all sorts of things start to happen, she realises she has to find out who the killer really is, no matter what the cost will be...

As I've said many times before, Tess Gerritsen's romantic thrillers aren't as good as her medical thrillers, but they are still very good. This particular story was my favourite of her romantic thrillers that I've read so far, it focused more on the thriller aspect than on the romance, and I enjoyed trying to guess who the killer was. I liked the character of Miranda, although very vulnerable, she still managed to be a strong woman who fought hard to prove her innocence. I definitely could see more of the Tess Gerritsen I know and love coming through in this novel, and I'm really looking forward to something new from her.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy


No. of pages: 307
Rating: 9/10

Synopsis: A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

Review: An apocolyptic event has happened, and the earth has burned. Few humans have managed to survive, but a man and his son have and are walking south in the hopes of out running the bitter cold in which they will not survive another winter. As they scavange their way through towns trying to find food and shelter, they have nothing but a gun with two bullets to protect themselves and their map to lead them south.

I decided to read this after watching and appreciating the film, and I'm so glad I did. The book is just as bleak, if not even more so than the film, and it really makes you think about what would happen if such a thing were to really occur. I found the lack of punctuation slightly strange, and it took a little while to get used to, but that and the lack of chapters lends to the feeling of endlessness, to the lack of hope the man must feel as the story evolves. While normally I wouldn't like such a book, for this particular story, it was absolutely perfect. I found it hard to put down, because it's just so gripping, the story of this man and boy trying to survive against all odds. I found the ending very sad, but in a way, it was hopeful too. I would absolutely recommend this, it's beautifully told, even if it's almost too hard to bear at times.

Coyote Moon by John Vornholt


No. of pages: 165
Rating: 6/10
Series: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Book 1, Story 1)

Synopsis: In every generation, there is a Chosen One. A slayer destined to protect the human race. She alone must fight the demons of hell. She alone must risk her life to stop the spread of evil.

Buffy is the Chosen One.

In Coyote Moon, a typical night at the carnival becomes deadly as shape shifters turn the amusement park into their own house of horrors.

Review: Buffy Summers is the 'chosen one' of her generation, meaning that she has to kill vampires, demons and all sorts of other monsters that she comes up against living over the hellmouth. Buffy, Willow and Xander are enjoying the end of their summer at the carnival when Buffy discovers the carnival owners are more than what they first seem, and they have deadly plans for Sunnydale.

I've just recently finished re-watching the seven seasons of the show, and so really enjoyed reading some of the fiction based on it, which I never did as a teen when I originally watched the show. I thought the characters were very recognisable as the original characters, Xander in particularly was hilariously funny during the story. I enjoyed some of the funny comments made throughout, but I found some of the dialogue to be a bit more cheesy than it is in the show. The plot was interesting and original, and I enjoyed reading Coyote Moon, but feel like it would have been better read when I was in my teens.

Prom Nights From Hell by Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe & Lauren Myracle


No. of pages: 304
Rating: 4/10

Synopsis: Stephenie Meyer and Meg Cabot head up this collection of 5 thrilling paranormal short stories which take bad prom nights to a whole new level. Imagine discovering you're dancing with the Grim Reaper -- and he isn't there to tell you how hot you look. Worried that your Prom Night is gonna bite? This thrilling collection takes bad prom nights to a whole new level -- a paranormally bad level!

Review: Five short stories, showing the terror of the school prom. The Exterminator's Daughter - Mary is trying to hunt down and kill the vampire that got her mother. The Corsage - Frankie gets a corsage that grants her 3 wishes, although in the end she wishes she had never touched it. Madison Avery And The Dim Reaper - Madison meets the grim reaper at her prom, and finds he has very nasty plans for her. Kiss And Tell - Miranda has 'super powers' and uses them to protect a young girl she encounters during her job. Hell On Earth - A low level chaos demon decides to have a little fun at the prom.

This turned out to be nothing like what I was expecting it to be. I thought all of the stories would be set within proms, instead only one story was, the rest had about 3 pages of prom action, which I found to be disappointing. Of the five, I only thought one of them was particularly good, and that was Michele Jaffe's Kiss And Tell, which was by far my favourite. I don't really know what else I can say other than to say it was generally very dull to read, and it was only the fact the stories were so short that I bothered to finish it.

Teaser Tuesdays (22)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:
When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life. Everything...affects everything. ~ p.201, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (22)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

John Vornholt - Coyote Moon 3/5
Cormac McCarthy - The Road 4.5/5

At the moment I'm reading:

Tess Gerritsen - Presumed Guilty
Jay Asher - Thirteen Reasons Why (re-read)

In the next week I hope to read:

Dean Koontz - Relentless

In My Mailbox (20)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I bought 3 books:

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John Vornholt/Nancy Golden/Diana G. Gallagher - Buffy The Vampire Slayer omnibus 2

In every generation, there is a Chosen One. A slayer destined to protect the human race. She alone must fight the demons of hell. She alone must risk her life to stop the spread of evil.

Buffy is the Chosen One.

In Halloween Rain, as if Halloween at the Hellmouth isn’t bad enough, a brewing storm threatens to bring new demons to life, just in time for a celebratory massacre.

A curse on the school’s rummage sale causes strange behavior in the halls of Sunnydale High in Bad Bargain.

Buffy and her friends are looking forward to the revival of the old drive-in theater, but when people start slipping into comas in Afterimage, this late show may be their last...




~~~~~

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Cormac McCarthy - The Road

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

~~~~~

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Helen Kennerley - Overcoming Childhood Trauma

Childhood abuse, whether emotional, physical, or sexual, can be the source of enduring difficulties in adulthood. Overcoming Childhood Trauma is a self-help manual for those who are struggling with the aftereffects of having suffered from abuse in childhood.

Based on clinically proven techniques of cognitive therapy, this book will help readers to understand the links between past trauma and present difficulties, and will offer methods of gaining control over these problems in order to deal with intrusive memories, manage mood swings, and build better relationships in adulthood.



~~~~~

And I also won a book:

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Charlaine Harris - Dead And Gone (signed)

For Sookie Stackhouse, the day to day activities of the vampire and were communities in and around Bon Temps, Louisiana, are of vital interest. But for most of the humans in Bon Temps, the vamps are mysterious seductive creatures-and they don't even know about the weres.

Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to follow the lead of the undead and reveal their existence to the ordinary world...

Apologies...

I must say how sorry I am that I've been MIA for the past few weeks. My life has gotten pretty crazy, and it's become rather difficult to balance life and reading, let alone find time to blog as well. I have a few reviews waiting to be written, and I'm hoping to do them tomorrow, so fingers crossed Book Sanctuary will be back to normal working order this week! So please bear with me while I try to catch up, because I really appreciate that I have the visitors that I do to my blog :)

TimeRiders: Day Of The Predator by Alex Scarrow


No. of pages: 433
Rating: 8/10
Series: TimeRiders (Book 2)

Synopsis: Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2029. But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no-one knows exists. Its purpose - to prevent time travel destroying history.

Review: Liam, Maddy and Sal all should have died, but just minutes before death they were taken into a different destiny, one in which they time travel to save the world. Liam goes on a mission to stop the assassination of someone important to the future, but something happens and they all get thrown back to the dinosaur era. As they race against time to get back to the future, they come up against something they never could have imagined...

This was a review book, so I'd not heard anything of this series before I went into reading Day Of The Predator, which is the second in the TimeRiders series. The synopsis was intriguing though, especially the aspect of dinosaurs which I'd never read a book about before. The action starts up from the first page, and just intensifies as the story goes on. I really enjoyed how well the author had researched the dinosaur era, with both the dinosaurs themselves, but also the surroundings in which they lived. The characters were well written, although as Sal and Maddy played a background role in this book we don't get to know them too well, so I hope that changes in future books. I think Becks turned out to be my favourite, I really enjoyed her evolution from pure robot to having more human reactions. I'm definitely going to back and read the first in the series, which I would recommend to people thinking of reading these books as they do refer back to previous storylines. The next in the series The Doomsday Code is out in February and looks awesome, it's going to be about Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest, can't wait!

Teaser Tuesdays (21)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:
It loomed ahead of them - a metal facade with a painted mural depicting lovely scenes of murder, mayhem and decapitation. Scantily clad women ran screaming from gooey, bloody monsters. ~ p.65, Coyote Moon by John Vornholt.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (21)


This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through Books.

In the past week I read:

Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer et al - Prom Nights From Hell 2.5/5

At the moment I'm reading:

John Vornholt - Coyote Moon

In the next week I hope to read:

I've been in a major reading funk lately, so I think this week I'm just going to take it as it goes, and read whatever takes my fancy rather than planning what I'll read.

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren, and sums up my past week in book purchases!

So this week I bought 2 books:

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John Vornholt/Arthur Byron Cover/Alice Henderson - Buffy The Vampire Slayer omnibus 1

In every generation, there is a Chosen One. A slayer destined to protect the human race. She alone must fight the demons of hell. She alone must risk her life to stop the spread of evil.

Buffy is the Chosen One.

In Coyote Moon, a typical night at the carnival becomes deadly as shape shifters turn the amusement park into their own house of horrors.

Buffy starts having past-life nightmares in Night of the Living Rerun, and must face her historic counterpart before the events of the past repeat in the present.

In Portal through Time, Slayers over the centuries are in danger, and Buffy must protect them in order to save her own life and legacy.



~~~~~

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Michael Connelly - Nine Dragons

Harry Bosch is assigned a homicide call in South L.A. that takes him to Fortune Liquors, where the Chinese owner has been shot to death behind the counter in an apparent robbery.

Joined by members of the department's Asian Crime Unit, Bosch relentlessly investigates the killing and soon identifies a suspect, a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad. But before Harry can close in, he gets the word that his young daughter Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong with her mother, is missing.

Bosch drops everything to journey across the Pacific to find his daughter. Could her disappearance and the case be connected? With the stakes of the investigation so high and so personal, Bosch is up against the clock in a new city, where nothing is at it seems.

Teaser Tuesdays (20)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:
And the woman who opened the front door? Exactly what you'd expect of someone creepy and cultish, Miranda thought. ~ p.192, Prom Nights From Hell - Kiss And Tell by Michele Jaffe.
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